


mojitos and margaritas

by youmeandem



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bartender AU, Bartenders, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 15:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12302076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youmeandem/pseuds/youmeandem
Summary: Kara’s head snaps up in the general direction of the VIP lounge. And indeed, its filled with Lex Luthor and his party. While everyone’s settling into their seats, Lex is still standing, broad-shouldered and tall, overlooking the room. Then he turns around and sits down next to a girl with dark hair and a black top, smiling down at her as he briefly touches her shoulder.She’s really pretty, and Kara finds herself staring just a little too long.or:lena walks into a bar where kara's the bartender au





	mojitos and margaritas

It’s a busy night at Luthors. The queue rounds the corner, and Kara has to push past what seems like an endless sea of bodies to get to the main entrance.

“Good evening, Kara,” Hector says, his otherwise stoic face cracking into a grin as he lets her through. “How’s your day?”

“Pretty good. My sister had the day off, so we spent all day watching Netflix on the couch eating junk food. Best way to spend your time, if you ask me.” Kara readjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Yours?”

“Less exciting. Had to take my cat to the vet, we think she ate something weird. Surgery went well, though. My husband’s home with her, and he keeps texting me updates.”

Kara pats his bicep. “I’m glad to hear that. If pets only knew how much trouble they put us through, right?” She grins, before jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “My shift is about to start. Good luck out here.”

“You too,” he says, turning his attention back to the people in the front of the queue who are asking how long they still have to wait before they’ll be let inside.

With some effort, a lot of, “Excuse me, coming through,” and too much accidental butt touches, Kara shuffles past the wall to the back of the building, where the staff room is located. She passes by the bar, waving at Sam and Gayle, who are working their asses off mixing drinks and whatnot, hurrying to put her bag down and put on her apron.

As soon as she’s done she slips behind the bar, greeting her coworkers. “How’s it going so far?”

“Busy,” Gayle says, filling shot glasses up to the brim. “It’s about time you showed up.”

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Sam shouts over the music, glaring at Gayle. “Every time you think it can’t get worse, it gets worse. This,” she gestures at the multitude of customers waiting to order, “has been going on for at least two hours. We could really use your help.”

Kara nods. “Who’s been waiting the longest?”

“People on that side,” Sam says, gesturing at the other side. “We tried to divide the bar into sections to make it go smoother, but it sort of backfired because people keep moving around. Now that you’re here, though, we can try to pick it up again. I’ll let Gayle know. You just worry about your section over there.”

“Got it.” Kara makes a thumbs up at Sam, moving past her to get to the other side. The bar is in the middle of the room, with three sunken dance floors and one seating area with booths and tables surrounding it. From the seating area you can get to the VIP lounge, half a floor higher than the rest. The VIP lounge has its own bar, although there’s mostly champagne and some expensive wines stored there. For most cocktails and beer, the VIPs have to come down to the regular bar.

Kara’s section is adjacent to the seating area, which means she has to wipe tables and bring back empty glasses and whatnot from there on top of her normal bartending duties, but usually it’s also quieter than everywhere else.

Kara works her way through the customers as fast as she can, mixing drinks and tapping beer and pouring shots, before slipping from behind the bar to collect the empty glasses scattered everywhere. She’s humming along to the melody of a song when she bumps into someone, almost dropping her tray.

“Sorry,” she mumbles, expecting an angry comment but getting a hug instead. “Wait, wh—” She blinks, before recognizing her friends. “Oh, hey!”

“I can’t believe you have to work the night I get back into town,” Lucy shouts into her ear, grabbing both of Kara’s biceps to look at her. Behind her, James is smiling down at the both of them, and Winn is awkwardly bopping his head to the beat with a drink in his hand.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Kara shouts back. “At Luthors, I mean. I totally knew you would be here in National City today. Obviously.”

Lucy shakes her head with a grin. “Of course you did.”

Kara’s eyes widen. “Really! I knew. I even wrote it down in my planner. We’re throwing a party tomorrow to celebrate, okay?” She looks at James and Winn, who nod immediately. “Why are you here, though? Don’t you want a quiet night in?”

“Are you kidding? Luthors is the hottest place in town, and I’ve never been because I was overseas,” Lucy says, and Kara finally notices the slight slurring of her words. “First order of business; drinking and dancing.”

“Alright, alright,” she says, giving Lucy a quick hug and gently pushing her towards James. “Take care of her, okay? I gotta get back to work, before I break all these glasses.”

Glancing over her shoulder to where Lucy and James have resumed dancing close together and Winn is awkwardly hopping from one leg to the other around them, Kara carries her tray back to the bar.

“Took you long enough,” Gayle says, but her tone isn’t as harsh as before now that things have calmed down a bit. And then, in a quieter voice, “Boss is here. We just saw him come in.”

Kara’s head snaps up in the general direction of the VIP lounge. And indeed, its filled with Lex Luthor and his party. While everyone’s settling into their seats, Lex is still standing, broad-shouldered and tall, overlooking the room. Then he turns around and sits down next to a girl with dark hair and a black top, smiling down at her as he briefly touches her shoulder.

She’s really pretty, and Kara finds herself staring just a little too long.

“Didn’t know you were into Luthor,” Gayle says with a smirk. “You look like you’re about to start drooling.”

Kara blinks, jabbing her fingers into Gayle’s side. “Who’s the girl? I’ve never seen her before.”

Gayle glances over her shoulder in between pouring shots of tequila and putting lemon and salt on the bar. “Her? I don’t know. Probably his new fling or something.”

“Yeah, probably,” Kara mumbles, allowing herself to stare a few seconds longer, before turning back to her work.

 ~

The next few hours go by in a haze. Kara makes so many drinks she loses count, and her pockets are slowly filling up with tip money. More and more people start slurring their orders, and she even has to refuse a man that can barely sit on the stool anymore his next order of a scotch on the rocks, calling him a cab instead.

When Kara has her break, she spends it sitting at a table with a pretty drunk Lucy and a slightly more sober James, listening to funny stories of things that happened during Lucy’s time overseas. It’s fun and her fifteen minutes of freedom fly by, and then Gayle is tapping on her shoulder because she’s about to clock out and she wants to say goodbye before leaving.

Kara hugs her—Gayle says she hates hugs and pretty much everything nice, but they have a solid friendship going on and Kara knows Gayle secretly likes their hugs—and when she returns to the bar, Sam is dabbing water on her face to stay awake.

Things are slowly calming down in the club; most people are either too tired or too drunk to keep on dancing and ordering drinks, and gaps are forming in the crowd where you can actually see the floor.

For the first time that night, Kara doesn’t have a lot to do except clean the bar and have short conversations with Sam as they smoothly move past each other with practiced steps.

“How’s Ruby?”

“Good,” Sam grins. “She started middle school so now she hates pink and thinks it’s embarrassing when I drive her to school instead of making her ride the bus.”

Kara laughs. “Oh god, good luck with that when puberty hits.”

Sam shrugs, finishing polishing the wine glasses. “Can’t be worse than mine. I mean, I got knocked up and now I’m stuck with a prepubescent teen.”

 “Better be quick to teach her about birth control then.” Kara tucks the dishcloth into her apron, patting Sam’s arm. She looks at Sam to see if the joke caught on, but Sam nods her head at something behind Kara instead.

“Ahem,” a voice says, and when Kara turns around she realizes it’s the girl that was with Lex earlier. “Excuse me, I’d like to order a drink.”

Kara’s mouth goes dry. From up close the girl is even more beautiful, with red lipstick and a sharp jaw. The corners of her mouth are curled into a soft smile, and even though it’s hard to make out the color of her eyes Kara notices they’re bright—blue or green, maybe.

She barely remembers how to breathe as she leans in to properly hear the girl’s order over the music and a waft of Chanel flows her way.

“Can I have a mojito please?” the girl asks, still smiling. “The champagne here is really good, but nothing tops a cocktail in my opinion.”

Kara nods, her tongue suddenly heavy in her mouth. She makes the drink on autopilot, glancing over her shoulder every now and then, just to catch a glimpse of this mystery girl. Who is she? How does she know Lex Luthor? Why is she smiling at Kara like that?

“Get it together, Danvers,” Kara mumbles, way too tempted to take a swig of the rum. Shaking her head at her own behavior, she takes a deep breath. With a painfully bright smile, she places the drink in front of the girl. “I made it extra strong.”

“Thanks,” the girl grins, pressing a twenty into Kara’s hand. “Keep the change.”

Kara brain haywires a little as she feels the girl’s skin against her own, but she manages to put the money into the register and take out the remaining six dollars to put it into her pocket. When she looks up, the girl is still smiling at her. Their eyes meet, and the girl’s smile brightens and Kara can’t help but smile back.

She mixes a few more drinks, trying her hardest not to look at the girl again, before Sam bumps into her with a mischievous grin. “Who’s your secret admirer?”

Kara almost chokes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That girl’s been sitting there stirring her mojito for at least fifteen minutes, and she’s barely taken her eyes off of you. I think it’s safe to say she’s into you.”

“Did Gayle put you up to this? You know she wants me to start dating again, she’s been bugging me about it for weeks now.” Kara purses her lips, stealing one glance over her shoulder.

Sam is right. That girl is still staring at her. She smiles when Kara looks her way, and her face is really cute when she smiles. Damn it.

“Ask her number,” Sam says, eyes flickering up to the gigantic clock hanging from the wall next to the bar. “We’re closing in, like, thirty minutes. She can wait thirty minutes.”

“I’m not going to hook up with a random girl at the bar,” Kara hisses, but she can feel her defenses failing. She hasn’t been with anyone after James said he wanted to try again with Lucy, and she did complain about her lack of a love life to Alex the other day after seeing her with Maggie. And the fact that this girl is really attractive doesn’t help either.

“Then ask her out on a date,” Sam shrugs. “I don’t see the big deal. She obviously thinks you’re hot, and you’re definitely into her, so who cares? You’ve got nothing to lose.”

Kara sighs, catching a glimpse of the girl’s hair from behind Sam. “If you put it that way…”

“I did. Go get the girl. I’ll close up. It’s not like there’s a lot of stuff left to do—kind of feels like everyone collectively decided to go home at the same time. This place is virtually empty.”

Kara purses her lips, stepping aside to let Sam pass to the other side of the bar. The girl is still sitting at the bar, on her phone this time, but as soon as Kara steps in front of her, she looks up with a grin.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hi.” Kara swallows, suddenly remembering why she’s single. Asking someone out is _hard_.

“Can I order another drink?”

Kara quirks her eyebrow, a dreadful feeling filling her chest. “You barely touched your mojito yet. Are you… waiting for someone?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” The girl smirks, sliding another twenty over the bar. “Do you have any recommendations? I’m not sure what she likes.”

Trying to mask her disappointment, Kara shrugs. “I’ve always liked margaritas.”

The girl’s face brightens. “Can I have that, then?”

“Sure.” With a sigh, Kara turns away to make the drink. When Sam frowns at her from across the bar, she makes a face and shows the glass to her, subtly nodding her head and holding up two fingers. Sam’s eyes flicker between the two of them, and an unreadable expression spreads across her face, before she turns her attention to another customer.

Kara finishes mixing the margarita, placing it on the bar. “Here you go.”

The girl clinks her own glass against the brim of the second one. “Cheers.”

Kara blinks. “Wait, what?”

“I said ‘cheers’. You know, a custom saying people usually say to each other before they have a drink together.” The girl chuckles at Kara’s baffled expression. “I’m buying you a drink.”

“Oh.” Kara’s eyes flicker from the girl to the drink and back to the girl, and she feels her face flush with embarrassment. “ _Oh_. Oh my god. I’m so sorry, I totally—wow, that really went over my head.”

“It’s okay,” the girl grins. She holds her hand up over the bar. “I’m Lena, by the way.”

“Kara,” Kara says, shaking Lena’s hand. “And thank you so much for the margarita, but I’m not really a fan of drinking on the job.”

“I know,” Lena says, turning her wrist to look at her watch. “But your shift ends in fifteen minutes, and I figured it was worth the wait.”

“I—” Kara meets Lena’s eyes again. They’re green, and _wow_ , they’re beautiful. “You make a very strong case.”

“I know,” Lena says, taking a sip from her drink. She looks like she’s about to say something else, when Lex and the remainder of his party come down from the VIP lounge. He’s taken off his jacket, his tie is undone and hanging from his neck, and he looks a lot less like Kara’s boss and a lot more like a regular dude who likes spending time with his friends.

“Good night, Kara,” he says, still sounding extremely well put-together despite looking everything but. Without another word, he wraps his arms around Lena and kisses the top of her head. “Good night, Lena.”

“Night, Lex,” Lena smiles, looking at him with a soft look in her eyes. “I had fun tonight.”

He grins a toothy grin, before walking off with a handful of people following him. Kara watches them leave, slightly amused at the sight of her boss being very obviously far from sober, which is somehow funnier than if it were anyone else.

“I saw you in the VIP lounge with him and the rest of his group earlier,” Kara says. “How do you know him?”

“He’s my brother,” Lena shrugs. “I recently moved down here from Metropolis, and he wanted to show me what this place is like when it’s open, because I’ve only seen it when it’s empty.”

“Your _brother_?” Kara exclaims, loud enough for some of the people around them to look up. “My boss is your brother? Doesn’t that make this whole thing,” she gestures at their drinks, “kind of… weird?”

Lena narrows her eyes and tilts her head slightly. “Does it? I’m not involved in the business, and Lex is very professional. But if it makes you uncomfortable…” She trails off, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“I guess it’s okay? I didn’t expect it, that’s all. You don’t really look alike. I thought you were his girlfriend, at first.”

Lena’s face contorts in disgust. “No, gross. I may be white, but I’m really not into the whole incest thing. But you’re right—I’m adopted, that’s why we don’t look alike.”

“You are? Cool! Me too.” Kara grins. “I didn’t even know he had a sister. Not that we really talk a lot about that sort of stuff, or anything unrelated to work, really. I bet he would’ve told me if we, you know, talked about personal stuff. I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Hey, Kara?” Lena interrupts. She pushes the drink closer to Kara. “You’re off the clock, so you might want to take a sip. You look a little red in the face.”

Kara bites her lip, gaze shifting to the hands on Lena’s watch. She’s right, it’s officially time to close. “Right.” She takes the glass, clinks it against Lena’s, and sips. “Sorry.”

Lena chuckles, swirling the melting ice cubes around in her glass. “Don’t worry, I’m just messing with you. You look beautiful.”

Kara almost chokes on her drink, coughing as she actively tries not to die because a pretty girl complimented her. “Th-thank you. You too, actually.”

Smirking, Lena downs the rest of her drink in one go. “Now that you’re free, do you wanna get out of here? I stole a bottle of wine from the VIP bar upstairs. It’s in my purse. If you want.”

“Yeah,” Kara sighs, following Lena’s example and finishing her drink. “Yeah, I’d like that. Let me just sign off and say goodbye to Sam, alright? You can wait outside, if you want.”

Lena nods, and Kara steps to the other side of the bar, where Sam is just finishing up cleaning the bar. “So… turns out the mystery girl’s name is Lena, and she’s Lex’s _sister_. And she stole a bottle of wine.”

Sam shakes her head with an amused grin on her lips. “If she’s Lex’s sister I guess that means I won’t have to report her for theft and seducing the bartender into lazing around.”

Kara smacks her arm, but her chest feels too full to be able to stop smiling. “Shut up. I’m leaving now. _With_ Lena. Say hi to Ruby from me, okay?”

“I will.” Sam wiggles her eyebrows. “Have fun.”

“I’m going to ignore that.” Kara slips from behind the bar into the staff room. She unties her apron and grabs her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She’s starting to feel the buzz from the margarita, and spending time with Lena and a bottle of wine is starting to look like an increasingly better idea with every passing second.

When she emerges from the staff room, the music has been turned off, and the lights are switched back on. The dance floors are vacated, with the last people stumbling outside, and Sam is wrapping up closing the bar.

Kara crosses the empty room to outside, hastily greeting the security guard and pushing past a few drunk people attempting to call an Uber, and she spots Lena leaning against the wall a couple of feet away, reading something on her phone.

She looks up as Kara walks up to her, cracking a smile. “There she is.” She holds out her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Ready?”

“One second,” Kara breathes. She’s known to hold her alcohol, but the combination of a really hot girl holding her hand and the fact that she just pretty much chugged an entire drink make her head feel light and her decision making ability less than ideal.

It’s just that Lena’s lipstick is a little smudged and Kara hasn’t felt this way about anyone in a long time, and Lena’s thumb is rubbing the back of her hand, and—

Lena smiles, leaning just as much into the kiss as Kara. She stands up on her toes, and Kara drops her bag as she wraps both her arms around Lena’s waist. Their teeth clash a little from smiling too much, but Lena tastes like lemon and sugar, and the whole thing is just a little messy and sort of perfect all at the same time.

Kara’s panting slightly when they pull back, and her hand finds Lena’s again. “Now I’m ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> after the promo pic of lena i just had to. it's a little messy but i had fun writing and i hope yall had fun reading too. if u did, pls consider leaving kudos and/or a comment
> 
> as always thanks to [astrid](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFirstDayOfSpring) for proofreading & jess for yelling 
> 
> hmu on twitter @luthvers or tumblr @ lenacorporations if u want or [buy me a coffee](http://ko-fi.com/youmeandem)


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